What have you done to your bike today?

So, does the bike party? And wow, i know saddles are a personal preference but that thing looks like torture!
It does. Took a hundred yards to go from new bike strangeness to worn blue jeans familiarity. Steve would not approve… but I’m gonna push the rear out about 6mm from slammed. It’ll still have Uber short chain stays (at 426mm) , but be a little more balanced IMO. The Brooks? All depends on the sit bones. They’re canvas covered rubber so they conform well (as long as you stay off the rivets) and are impervious to weather. I have a version of this on half my bikes and SMP Glider’s on the rest.
 
I added a new hardtail to my bike today. Growler with upgrades.
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Yesterday I tried putting my gravel bike on the trainer to dial in my fit a bit better. Stripped out the mech hanger.View attachment 204023View attachment 204024so today at work for the first hour. I drilled out the hanger. Had a longer bolt from my pivot 429 trail. That will now go through the hanger and have a nut outside the hanger . Had to cut off the tapered washer from the old bolt. View attachment 204027View attachment 204028View attachment 204030View attachment 204031
I may have get a different nut or just grind I'd down to fit the frame. Hope it works. 🙂

EDIT.. Not as terrible as I thought it would be. View attachment 204110
Following this format is some kinda MC Escher exercise.
 
I used it to teach myself a geometry lesson, apparently ...

Since September, I've been waiting on a replacement frame for my cracked Moots. The while thing is a PIA because they don't actually make the Mooto-X anymore, so I'm waiting on a Womble. It's different geometry (more "modern" trail bike than XC - optimized for 120 mm fork and generally slacker set up - but my shop told me he's pretty sure he can get the setup very similar to my original Moots set up, so there's that. But the changes required left me with extra parts from the existing bike. So, of course ... new build.

I originally considered an Optimus Ti frame from Vassago, but that was also advertised as "modern geometry", which was against the whole point (trying to use my existing 100 mm fork and other parts that weren't "modern".) But a few weeks later I saw they had restocked the "Ludicrous Ti" (formerly called the "Optimus Race") which IS a more "traditional" XC geometry. It was also a few hundred bucks off, so I jumped on it.

There were definitely some differences I was aware of in the builds between the Moots and the Vassago from the start, but nothing jumped out at me as a deal breaker. (I should mention that my primary goal here was to mimic my Moots setup as much as possible.) However, there was one difference that turned out to be bigger than I anticipated and this was all because I completely missed one specific difference between the two frames. I knew that the head tube itself on the Vassago was 20 mm shorter than on the Moots, but what I failed to consider was that it also took an integrated headset while the Moots did not. So not only was it 20 mm shorter but within that 20 mm there was also another maybe 8-10 mm difference because the Moots also had a bottom headset cup. So in fact I needed an additional spacer. I actually prefer to never use ANY spacers, purely from an aesthetic standpoint - I just like the look of a "slammed" stem. But that wasn't ever going to be an option here because it would have put my front end way too low for my ever-aging lower back to handle - I really had no interest in cutting my steerer tube anymore than it already was.
So I built it up with the spacers and it came out pretty nice. One additional odd thing - I ultimately decided to replace my old stem because it was kind of crudded up after 5 years of sweat and dirt working in there. So I replaced an Easton EA90 with another brand new Easton EA90 and ... they're not the same size?? The newer one is a little bit longer. They're both 90 mm stems, except ... they're ... not ... ??? Weird. But it was a very small difference and I had more than enough room to play with on my seat position anyway, so no big deal. But still kinda weird.

So the details:

Frame: Vassago Ludicrous Ti (size S)
Fork: 2017 Fox 32 SC 100 mm
Stem: Easton EA90
Wheels: I9 Trail 280c 32h (Boost)
Crankset: TruVativ STYLO Carbon Eagle Boost Crankset - 175mm
Seatpost: Whisky Carbon 30.9 (18 degree offset)
Saddle: Pinarello Most (Manganese rails)
Handlebar: Niner Carbon 710 mm
Pedals: Shimano XTR
Brakes: Shimano XT

Rode it today for the first time - need to tune a few things, but overall pretty solid. Fit is perfect, but need to maybe swap out the pedals (they're pretty old and shaky) and I will need to bleed the brakes. Other than that, no notes!

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Tool wall and shop setup envy... and I also have my race/ride numbers attached to the wall in my garage but not that neatly.

oh and nice bike n+1!
 
I think it’s a clever idea and I’m satisfied that the engineering is sound. I just think it could benefit from some form of removable shroud to make the sight lines more visually appealing. Cuz the rest is sweet.
 
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